Fostering a Conversation For a Creative NoHo Community

I watched a TED Talk recently about how to encourage personal creativity. The talk suggested that creativity is as individual as it is universal. Whether you consider yourself creative or not, humans, by nature of living, express creativity. Cooking, decorating your apartment and putting on clothes are all ways we express creativity. Creativity also requires failure. In the mistake you find the motivation for creation. Lastly, creativity requires a sacred space, which was the theme of the talk, to emerge, find it's own life and sacred space. This is an interesting conversation for personal creativity, but, how do you encourage a community to be creative? It goes beyond individual creativity and extends into a larger group of people to create the "sacred space" for others to create in, therefore contributing to the creativity that inspires another creative person and so forth. Always taking and giving back. I know this sounds really fluffy and unattainable. Like some altruistic society that lives off of foraged nuts and belly button lint. But I know it's possible. I have always wondered why LA being filled several layers high with the greatest calibur of creative people, in my personal community I know extremely talented musicians, playwrights, comedy writers, students of film, photographers and directors, chefs, architects, bakers, athletes, bloggers, actors . . . and yet what emerges from LA's "scene" is considered fake, glossy, and out of touch. Yet there are people just doors down with ground breaking, heart shattering ideas that can't find funding to get their ideas off the ground. A constant struggle of have's and have not's, both communities needing each other, yet seemingly out of reach. In New York, which I migrated from 13 years ago, there is still the imbalance of content verses cash, just see any box office inspired Broadway Musical, but the difference is cherished. Seeing a play Off Broadway is seen just as valuable, if not more, as On Broadway by the community. And it is no question that the best ideas come from those creative voices in the smaller (cheaper) theaters. There is an abundant community conversation for creativity that enjoys an intelligent/interesting evening of theater, or live music. There are business owners that cater to this creative conversation by offering unusual affordable after hour performance spaces. There are public spaces for like minded people to gather and create something never seen before. There is always a venue for people to take a risk and fail forward in any medium. And the failure is encouraged and watched like a beautiful disaster. In LA there are restaurants that trend and die faster than you can dirty your underware. There are bars too afraid to chose an identity and stick to it. Promoters, desperate for a crowd, booking bands that do not cater to the same audience. Comedy clubs that choose beer sales over talent. Increase of Reality TV production and decrease in Original TV Production. Empty theater houses, and Art Exhibits that "skip" LA. We should really be embarrassed. How is this possible? Writing this has made me feel incredibly bleak and sad for the future of creativity in LA. That was not my intention for this blog post. My intention is to look inward at my NoHo community. What can I be responsible for? How can I inspire and foster the conversation for a Creative NoHo Community? How can I encourage collaboration between artists in different mediums and simultaneously inspire community support for those endeavors not because they feel badly for artists but because they see something essential for human evolution through empathy and art. That has us celebrate local businesses and hunger for more ways to express our unity as a unique and artistic NoHo community. Are there any ideas out there?